


In which Cosette plans

by clayrlibrarian



Series: Stupid amazing hipster students [1]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-19
Updated: 2013-07-19
Packaged: 2017-12-20 16:46:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/889548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clayrlibrarian/pseuds/clayrlibrarian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everything has to start somewhere. They began in a cafe, with a grumpy friend, soaked and laughing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In which Cosette plans

**Author's Note:**

> This is about as much [Maddie's](http://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirl_squee/pseuds/fangirl_squee) fault as mine. She's beta'd this thing and done given me some great ideas and support.

For Grantaire it all started (as much as you can ever say that anything starts) with a coffee cup suddenly appearing in front of him.

 

He’d been sitting in the cafe, over an hour before the weekly meeting of Les Amis would begin, reading and waiting for Enjolras to appear. Grantaire was aware that this sort of thing was not exactly the sanest idea, bound to make him unhappy and creepy in ways he didn’t want to think about, but this was a habit that they’d fallen into over the last few weeks. As Enjolras didn’t have class, he usually appeared early to prepare things, get some food, and talk to anyone who arrived. Grantaire just took the opportunity he saw to start his weekly session of pining a bit early and put an end to the discussion they’d been having via facebook of all places. There were worse things than sitting in a café and reading that he could, and would, be doing otherwise. 

 

A cup of black coffee suddenly appeared in front of him, followed by Cosette. She sat down across from him, a serious expression on her face, looking as if they had some sort of business to discuss. Grantaire couldn’t remember any serious mistakes, but prepared himself for the worst just in case.

 

"It’s not going to work out, you know that?" she asked, in lieu of a greeting. 

 

"I always make a habit of saying hello to my friends with cryptic questions, too. It’s such a wonderful and polite way to start a conversation, dearest Cosette. How are you on this fine day?"

Cosette sighed and Grantaire had to hope that biting sarcasm behind friendliness would be enough to get her to stop doing whatever she seemed set to do. 

 

"Not today at least and not like this," she continued instead. “He’s been battling paperwork for the last three hours. If you try to do your usual thing it’ll end in screams, drama, and alcohol."

 

Grantaire supposed that getting any sort of explanation for why this was happening was out of the question. 

 

"But doesn’t it always?" The smile on his face felt jaded, as he stared down at the coffee cup as if it held all the answers in the world.

 

Sadly, outside of special circumstances Cosette wasn’t one to encourage consumption of alcohol when most of their friends were still in class. This drink wouldn’t even let him forget about the questions.

 

"You might not have a problem with that happening, but I actually come to these meetings to get things done and not to have to deal with Enjolras in a bad mood afterwards."

 

"Oh, tell me then, wise one, how else am I supposed to get him to notice me?" he asked. If he had to talk about this, perhaps advice from one of his friends could be useful.

 

Cosette deliberated on her answer for a few seconds, and Grantaire wondered why she was doing this at all. What was in it for her? The two of them had never been close or talked a lot. After all, they both had other close friends, and no reason to spend time with each other. He couldn’t remember having done anything out of the ordinary to spark her interest.

 

"He does notice you,” she said, “Just not in a positive way, these days. You need to get over that massive case of worship, and start treating him like a normal person if you want him to see you as one. Right now this thing’s unpleasant for everyone involved."

 

A sigh was all the reply she got at first. “Easier said than done. And believe me, I’ve tried." 

 

He had. In a way, he still was. But Grantaire wasn’t one to deny the truth, or deny himself the things he wanted. He could admit to himself that he was pining after Enjolras in the most ridiculous way, but there was no way for him to just get over it like that. Grantaire was trying to get his attention in the only way he knew, to get into arguments, because it was something they both enjoyed and could do with each other.

 

Cosette looked irked at his stubbornness, and replied “I know that. I live with Eponine."

 

"Point," he acknowledged. “What do you want me to do then? What’s your mad but genius master plan?"

 

"My _mad but genius master plan_ is the following thing: do something else. Don’t use every waking hour to provoke him. Get some distance. Talk to other people, do other things."

 

"Are you volunteering?" Grantaire felt genuinely confused. People usually left him in peace, especially if, like Cosette, they didn’t have anything to do with him normally.

 

"I notice things, R. I see that you’re an interesting person, and I also see that you’re tearing yourself up. I see that you’re letting a lot of the things that make you you go because of this whole thing. And that this much arguing is leading you nowhere. It’s getting out of hand”, she explained, “When did any of this last made you feel good?"

 

"Making me what?" Grantaire was very sure that Cosette must’ve gotten some very wrong impressions of him. “I’m afraid you’ve been mislead about me."

 

"Not a good answer. We’ve still got a while before that meeting. What were you going to do?" she asked.

 

Grantaire looked down sheepishly. “Read. Wait for Enjolras."

 

"And then get into an argument with him that would leave him exhausted and angry when we’ve got to plan that protest?" Cosette could be stern and frightening if she wanted to and Grantaire suspected that nothing short of explosions could ever distract her from what she wanted. He had to admire that sort of dedication, even if, right now, she was focused on calling him out. Not like he didn’t deserve it. 

 

"Enjolras doesn’t seem like he has a problem focusing on work."

 

Not by tentative attempts at friendly conversation from Grantaire, at least. The last times he’d tried that, he’d been brushed off in favour of “more important things”. The only way to get Enjolras to talk was to argue.

 

"He doesn’t. However, he does have a problem getting the rest of his life in order afterwards, and you’re not helping by making him fume and indulging his temper."

 

Grantaire raised an eyebrow. “So?"

 

"So what?" Cosette asked. Two could play that game.

 

"So you obviously have a plan. Tell me," he said.

 

"Drink your coffee and let’s leave. We still have time. You’re going to help me know my way around the city, and help me not look like the pathetic small town girl I am," she said.

 

That’s how it came to pass that Grantaire and Cosette came to and left meetings of Les Amis together regularly. That’s how they got to know each other. They arrived at that first meeting five minutes late, still wet from having been caught by a fountain and laughing. To say that Enjolras had been confused was an understatement. 

 

This is where the story started for Grantaire. 

 

________________________________________________________

 

For Cosette, it had started exactly a week earlier in a conversation with Enjolras. 

 

"You’re late by your standards, shouldn’t you be at the Musain already?" Cosette asked, as she accepted the coffee he was offering her.

 

She walked ahead to get out of the university building as soon as possible, slightly surprised to even find Enjolras here as he usually was at the Musain, doing Important Amis Things.

 

"Are you saying that I can’t pick you up from class?" Enjolras asked, mock-offended at the suspicion.

 

Cosette had never looked back since meeting Les Amis de l’ABC. They'd become friends when Marius, already besotted with her, had pointed her out to Enjolras while she'd been in an argument with some disgustingly right-wing idiot who thought he could judge her life choices. Enjolras had immediately asked her to come to a the next meeting, Cosette had walked away from that with a new group of wonderful friends and a meaningful way to use whatever free time she had. 

 

"I’m saying that the last time I asked if we could meet after class you told me that you _were a very busy person and had very important things to prepare_ ," she said, in a barely passable imitation of Enjolras.

 

Enjolras avoided her gaze. “R’s there. I know it’s stupid, but I don’t want to deal with him today."

 

"Deal with him?" she asked. “He’s our friend. Talk to him. You don’t seem to have a problem with that usually."

 

"What you mean is I don’t have a problem arguing with him. It’s completely impossible for the two of us to have a normal conversation. He’s either worshipping the ground I walk on or trying to verbally cut me to pieces."  
As always, when annoyed Enjolras had the habit of pushing his left hand in his hair, messing it up even more than usual. It was nice to know that his inability to keep his hair in something that was not complete disarray was a universal constant and a good indicator of just how incapable the world was of measuring up to his standards on any particular day.

 

"Don’t talk to me about not knowing how to deal with crushes. I know that problem." Cosette replied, thinking of Marius, who was definitely caught in the worshipping stage and Eponine who has pining after him in turn. The guy your best friend was in love with being in love with you was not a fun romantic situation. “I thought you liked that argument routine you have going on?"

 

"To a certain degree, yes. But it’s getting to the point where it takes more energy than it’s worth, and leaves me angry afterwards, which means I snap at Courf, which means he sulks at me for a day or two. Do you have any idea how bad it is to deal with sulky Courfeyrac for a flatmate?" His tone became slightly desperate during the last sentences.

 

Cosette giggled. “I really like the guy but I don’t want to find out how to deal with any kind of Courfeyrac for a flatmate. I see the problem. I still need to copy some stuff for this. Want to come with me?"

Relieved at having something to do that wouldn’t immediately lead him to the Musain, Enjolras followed.

 

Something, Cosette decided, needed to be done about this situation and since Enjolras had the social skills of a very grumpy hermit crab when it came to things involving feelings, he couldn’t be trusted to do anything but avoid Grantaire at every turn or get into arguments with him. So she spent the following meeting watching Grantaire watch Enjolras, sketch book in front of him abandoned in favour of reverent focus. An idea started to form.

 

The rest of the week was spent gathering intelligence on Grantaire. She asked Courfeyrac in their shared class, talked to Bahorel while getting food, asked Eponine while they were cooking. The answers were confusing, and left her with more questions rather than less.

 

It seemed that Grantaire had too many hobbies for one person, knew this city too well for someone who hadn’t been born there, and didn’t contribute to their cause in the way expected for someone of his intellect and general opinion on the state of the world.

 

This is how it came to pass that Cosette decided that not only did she need to get Grantaire off Enjolras’ back for a while as finals approached, but also that she needed to get to know him to satisfy her curiosity. This is where the story started for Cosette.

 

This is also why, a week later, the two of them were walking around the park and Cosette decided it was necessary to put her plan of finding out everything she could about Grantaire from the source himself into motion. Pushing Grantaire into the fountain installation that was going to go off in any second, and then joining him by and running through the spray was a spontaneous decision made with only the currently unbearable temperatures in mind. She couldn’t deny that this had gone beyond the idea of doing something about the situation between Enjolras and Grantaire, but it paid off pretty well. Bless all things that featured fountains of water randomly shooting from the floor. 

 

_________________________________________________

 

This is how the story continued for the next few weeks: 

 

Grantaire, waiting with a cup of coffee in front of the lecture hall as Cosette left her lecture on elementary evolutionary biology, Cosette thankfully taking it. The two of them talking and leaving campus for the next two hours, arriving at the Wednesday Les Amis meeting just in time, laughing and whispering to each other about photography in art and journalism, about casting choices in various movies and TV shows, about projects and pretentious douchebags (professors and students), about travels and dreams, favourite foods and allergies, everything and nothing. 

 

Cosette, looking back on it, would later call this one of her better plans even if she'd never expected to enjoy herself this much.

**Author's Note:**

> So, look at me starting what seems like a rather large verse about these two. What am I getting myself into? This is going to become a ship at some point, just so you know.
> 
> I'm also on [tumblr](refrigeratorsrock.tumblr.com), come talk to me there if you feel like it.


End file.
